We sat down three times |
to chat |
a bit slowly we listened to |
his life story, what he had done |
and his impressions. |
In Hungarian he told us how he |
sees us, us Sekler people |
from far way across the ocean |
and how this stranger gets along. |
We found it |
most interesting that |
at the age of 70 he studies with |
such interest and devotion. |
Hungarian is like a smooth |
mountain made of glass. |
There is nothing to hold on to |
he emphasized. |
“How does my lord today,” |
For a long time he did not understand what |
people were asking. What? Who? Today I |
understand the expression, he laughs. |
He is pleased that when he goes to the local |
coffee shop, people know what he wants... |
he always orders coffee with hot milk |
and sour cherry crumb cake. |
We don't get sour cherries in the US |
just sweet cherries. The somewhat tart |
fruit is really the best |
Robert adds. |
“He used to teach, now he teaches again” |
Retired. Not really rich, but |
he has enough money to |
study. In his career he |
taught German at a university |
“It was the best job of my life” But |
under Reagan foreign languages |
and the fine arts took a back |
seat to |
business classes |
students no longer had to learn |
foreign languages at the university. |
What could he do. He went back to study |
accounting and finance |
and then |
got a job at a bank. |
Paper-based work |
changed to computer-based—and |
he got new, interesting assignments. |
But a big bank ate up |
the little one |
too many employees |
for the work that was required. |
So for a year he got extra salary |
and then was out |
of a job. He got involved in some |
real estate |
and then retired. |
But he asked himself , what do I want |
to do. His answer—go back |
to teaching. While he had done |
some publishing as an academic |
he did not have a teaching |
certificate to work in a high school. |
So he looked for a country |
which had a need for American teachers |
He was familiar with in Europe. So he |
got a position in Tata as a visiting teacher |
For a year and a half he worked |
in Hungary. The first Hungarian word |
he learned--”thank you” |
There were a few students who spoke |
good English, a few knew German. |
He met the local chorus director, who |
was a retired German |
teacher. She |
invited him to sing. |
He did not understand the words |
But he could read the notes, and the |
chorus members and dictionaries helped |
him to pronounce the words |
The chorus took several trips |
to sing in venues in other towns, churches |
and so on. In Csönge they visited the |
home of Weröes Sandor, |
now a museum. He did not know |
--"who is this person who |
is so important to these people?” On the |
internet he found a couple of translations |
“They were very interesting” Robert |
remembers being introduced to them. |
I think I need to learn this language |
so that I can be able |
to read the poems of Weöres. |
“I am not a tourist” |
Without a teacher he started |
to learn Hungarian on his own. He |
traveled round Hungary by train |
and bicycle. Then his job as visiting |
teacher came to a close. With his family-- |
spouse, son, daughter and her companion |
he traveled around and then |
he returned |
to the US. |
With a few former students |
he talked in Hungarian using Skype |
He read some Hungarian texts on the internet. |
Some of his students are now |
graduating and he promised |
to attend their ceremony. |
In the meantime he realized-- |
There are people in Romania |
who speak Hungarian |
as their native tongue. He decided |
to travel and stay there |
and do little day trips |
He wanted to get close to people |
get to know them. He wrote to several |
tourist offices and got three answers. |
the best came from Udvarhely |
where he selected |
the Gizi Inn |
|
About 10 days after arriving he was walking |
on Bethlen Street. Somebody spoke to him |
In English—your shoe is untied. |
He wondered, who is it |
who is speaking English. And so |
he met Péter Julia, a local |
English teacher who invited him |
to meet with some of her |
students and work with them |
to prepare for language exams. |
Expanding his horizons |
He gets up around 6 am. After breakfast |
he studies. Nowadays he can understand |
about 1000 Hungarian expressions. |
He showed me his tablet computer |
with the phrase--”he would swear there |
were no stars in the sky” on the screen |
he understands and can explain the phrase |
Abstract words are harder |
to learn. Recently the word erkölcs (virtue) |
was something he tried to say—with difficulty |
He said he wrote about his problem with it |
in his blog he keeps for his friends, along with the |
stuff he does each week and his trips |
by bus and by train to |
places nearby |
or on the second hand bike he got |
at the flea market. About the bike-- |
“ Not the best, I had to do a little work on it.” |
He has gone to Korund, Szováta, and to |
Segesvar too on a recent cold day. |
He is a repeat visitor to |
the events at the local art center. |
He witnessed the Burial of Winter celebration |
and also went to |
Csikszentmiklós |
for their pig butchering festival. |
He likes it here |
The countryside is pretty, the town is quiet. |
He feels safe. The roads have |
potholes, so biking is a bit dicey |
And for that reason he does not go biking |
after sundown. What does he need? |
“There just aren't any Hungarian films that also |
have Hungarian subtitles. Just Kis Vuk (popular |
animated film). It is hard to learn a language |
without films—being able to repeat, go back, |
listen again over and over. Makk |
Károly (noted film director) made lots of films. |
Good ones, important ones, but only |
Hungarians can understand them. Why are there |
no subtitles? Both Hungary and Transylvania are |
(cultural) islands. Foreigners have no reason to |
get to know your culture?”--he asks |
emphatically. “ You need to help |
people from other countries.” |
-- What does he think about the Szekély people? |
Courteous, he replies. He tells this story with strong |
emphasis. People see that I am not Hungarian. |
When I speak in Hungarian |
they reply in English. |
But when I again |
speak in Hungarian, they understand-- |
he is studying the language. From then on |
they help him. He recently |
had an unusual experience |
He spoke with a class |
and at the end they applauded him |
That never happened |
to him in Hungary. |
He thinks the local students do better |
in English than those living in Hungary |
perhaps because |
they live next door to Romanian speakers |
and this exposure makes it easier for them. |
Udvarhely is just right for me |
|
It is Hungarian, not too large. |
It has a library, a theater, coffee shops |
Just no cinema-- well there is one, but |
the films are all dubbed. |
He notices that many high school students live here |
independently. In the US only very rich |
people would |
be able to afford |
to do that. But it is hard to get to |
Udvarhely by train. |
Segesvar is only 30 miles away, |
but the trip takes nearly 2 hours. |
So the students have to live in town. |
He does not yet know all of the town, but |
it seems to him that the Budvar area |
is the most run down. He noticed at one of |
the local stores that |
every book on the shelves was in Romanian. |
Who is going to buy those books? Udvarhely |
Is 98% Hungarian! |
Every single |
DVD was also Romanian. |
Vegetables and fruits |
also had names and descriptions |
only in Romanian. |
|
He finds the local traditional diet to be heavy. |
He tried the “priest lettuce” soup, |
the trout, and the veal stew. |
They were delicious. For breakfast |
he wants a quarter of the usual serving-- |
instead of sausage and cheese |
he prefers vegetables. He remarks that |
at the local rail crossing |
|
every vehicle comes to a full stop. |
Back in the US, if people know there |
are only 3 trains daily |
nobody stops. |
Székely polo shirts? |
He visited Korund to see |
if he could pick up some traditional |
items. We asked him what he |
thought about things. Well, they |
are pretty, but just for dress up-- |
eg, the men's shirts. All the T shirts |
are made in Asia. Not one produced |
locally. For example |
it would be nice if people |
could wear the stuff to work |
--stuff embroidered with traditional symbols |
like the “tree of life” and the moon and stars |
As others see us.... |
He wasn't interested in |
wearing a tie for the photographer. |
Maybe for my funeral, he said |
dryly. I told him that |
the material from our conversations |
would appear on Thursday. It will be |
interesting, he said with a boyish grin. |
I am looking forward to reading it. Now |
I will be able to see myself through another |
person”s eyes. |
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